DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — Kyle Busch joked with his team as sat in his car under a red flag Sunday afternoon in the Coke Zero 400 at Daytona International Speedway.

That wouldn't be unusual except for the fact that he was upside down.

Kyle Busch's No. 18, middle, is upright but will end up on its roof after this Daytona crash. (AP Photo)

After having his car battered in a chain-reaction wreck as cars began to accordion in the draft, Busch's car was tipped over at the end after being hit by Cole Whitt. Busch's car lazily turned over.

The race was stopped for the lap-98 crash until Busch could get out of the car.

"I'm good," Busch said after a quick visit to the infield medical center. "A bunch of the other hits were much worse than the hit that toppled me over. All in all, it was no big deal — real slow.

"When you start going over, you get tight in your restraints, you just hang on to your restraints and that's pretty much it. No big deal."

Busch waited patiently and joked with his team over the radio until the track workers got the car upright. His harness kept him in his seat.

"It's not bad — you're in a seven-point harness and things are all good. … You just sit there upside-down basically in your restraints (because) your chest is held, your abdomen is held, everything is held," he said. "You just wait for them to come in there and get you and turn you over.

"It is way safer to get turned over in that seat than it is to try to undo the belts and bang your head off the ceiling and try to get out."

Had Busch ever been upside-down for so long?

"On an inversion table," Busch said. "But not in a race car. The last time I had been upside-down, I barrel-rolled a few times and then ended up on my wheels. Those hits hurt a little bit more than just getting toppled over and hanging — I'd rather do that any day of the week."

The crash appeared to start when Greg Biffle and Kasey Kahne had contact as the cars bunched in the draft. Of the 41 cars on the track, 24 were damaged.

"It started when I got hit in the back and it spun me and then the rest of the field hit me," Kahne said.

Biffle said he had no options.

"David Ragan gave me a big push and then Kasey got up and went to the middle and ran into the back of the 13 car (of Casey Mears) and slowed way up and I hit the back of the 5 (of Kahne)," Biffle said. "We weren't lined up. He moved down for some reason when he hit the 13 or something. It was just a chain reaction."

Jamie McMurray's car got airborne for a moment but landed on its wheels.

"It's kind of scary," McMurray said. "I've never had that happen before. It's a helpless feeling when you're getting hit as you're in the air."

Drivers were digging hard at that point in the race with rain threatening to end the event at any moment.

"Guys were definitely more urgent with the threat of rain," Busch said.